The House On Mango Street Essay

The House on Mango Street Analysis Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street, is a book of poetry, about the coming of age of a young Latina girl named Esperanza told from Esperanza’s point of view. Esperanza is an observant and descriptive. These traits make her an excellent narrator because of her ability to breathe life into the story. Throughout the book, Esperanza deals with her Latin heritage, her family, growing up and other teenage topics. But what makes The House on Mango Street stand out from other books is its intimate details.

In Sandra Cisneros’ “The House on Mango Street,” the chapter, The Monkey Garden, describes Esperanza playing in the garden with Sally and a few of the boys when things take a turn Esperanza is uncomfortable with. At times, Esperanza is naïve and inexperienced, but other times, she exudes an awareness of someone much older. This awareness comes to light multiple times throughout the novel and Sally is often a catalyst of this awareness – this chapter is no exception. The Monkey Garden showcases the dichotomy that lies within Esperanza; the dichotomy of being both innocent and intuitive, both aware and naïve. Esperanza begins this chapter with a keen awareness.

They were burdened with sashweights and bags of birdshot, and their faces were masked, so that no one, seeing a graceful free gesture or a pretty face, would feel something the cat drug in. George was toying with the vague notion that maybe dancers shouldn’t be handicapped. But he didn't get very far with it before another noise in his ear radio scattered his thoughts.(pg 1)”. In the short story George had a lot of smart thoughts and idea, but his handicap stops him about thinking too much. In the film, it doesn't appear that George thinks very much at all.

The narrative is about a 12-year old girl named Esperanza who tries to seek freedom and discover herself. Esperanza goes through this process by attempting to define herself using her name, getting influenced by Sire, and admitting her identity at the end of the book. Esperanza feels as if her name is holding her back from showing who she is, she does not believe it makes a good impression on her. In the story the author expresses this by using sensory detail, “I would like to baptize myself under a new name, a name more like the real me, the one nobody sees.”

Sandra Ciseneros’ The House On Mango Street showcases a theme of confinement specifically towards female characters. Throughout the novel, Esperanza gives naive accounts of the isolated and trapped lives of a select few of her neighbors and friends. This recurring theme in the book is connected to the symbolism presented in liminal spaces, windows, and inside vs. outside. Liminal spaces are places of transitions.

The House on Mango Street consists of many short stories that explain the life of a young girl named Esperanza. It also explains her living situation; poverty in a crime riddance neighborhood. In addition, she also states the various obstacles that she has to overcome in her everyday life, such as wearing cheap clothes, eating the lunches her mom makes, living in her home, etc. Reading the book once without looking at it through an analytical perspective the book may seem two-dimensional and flat. While Cisneros’ stories may be short, after re-reading it to get a deeper understanding as to what she really means, the significance of the text becomes even more visible, and the interpretations become increasingly powerful.

Symbolism, as defined by the New Oxford American dictionary, is the use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities. In the book “The House on Mango Street” written by Sandra Cisneros the main character Esperanza goes through life, growing up in a very cultural household. Cisneros uses symbolism to show sexism, her feeling like she didn’t belong, and negative aspects in her culture. In this book she shows many examples of cultural sexism.

Esperanza finds growing up especially difficult when she realizes the teenage girls in her neighborhood experience abusive and controlling relationships. Sally’s father physically abuses her. Her father thinks she is “going to run away just like his sisters who made the family ashamed” (92). Sally tried to help herself by staying with Esperanza’s family , however , when her father came to the Cordero’s house with tears in his eyes, sally agreed to come home when he said “this is the last time” (93).

The story The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros is a story representing a substantial amount of themes to represent copious different ideas. The main character is a girl named Esperanza coming of age and she often describes herself and her street in vivid details. Throughout the story, Esperanza goes through numerous different perspective altering events throughout the story that shape her as a person through the themes and ideas that vary from chapter to chapter. A main idea from the vignette Rice Sandwich is about the experience of shame along with how it changed her outlook on the ways of the world along with the natural order that wealth brings. This vignette is about Esperanza’s desire to be able to accomplish something that

Kelbey Deck Mr. Hayworth Honors English IV 05/17/16 The House on Mango Street Girls experience different challenges than boys while going through the adolescent stages while maturing, varying in their emotional, physical and sexual development. Esperanza, the protagonist, does not feel fully connected with her home on Mango Street, owing to her struggles to defy stereotypes that society has set for girls of her age and race. Once Esperanza has conquered puberty and has developed some sort of identity, she finds herself emotionally ready to leave Mango Street, but realizes that in the end, she must come back to rescue all the women she left behind. The novel, The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, is about a Chicana’s coming of age story

Ochoa-Estevanes1 Introduction A. In the book, Esperanza experiences different individuals down where she lives. B. While Esperanza is always in the process of moving, she explains her life on Mango Street to one of the unique experience for her. C. The book, The House on Mango Street, is a great example of a Hispanic young lady taking what she loves, sees and explains her feelings towards her house by using literary elements such as imagery and allegory.

Life: a particular type or aspect of people's existence. All of our problems help us identify who we are in relation to our life. In the few novels, short stories, and independent reading books that I read, I picked out three characters: Esperanza from The House on Mango Street, Madame Loisel from “The Necklace”, and Jamie Sullivan from A Walk to Remember. These three stories have a common theme in which a character struggles to figure who they are with the pressures of society. This is a struggle I feel like I go through everyday.

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros is a story about a young Hispanic girl’s experiences growing up in Chicago. This girl’s name is Esperanza, and her personality is shown through her interactions with people in her neighborhood. This is not the white picket fence area she dreamed about. It is a rough neighborhood. Esperanza has a rough life.